People are only just realising Ralph Fiennes’ real name and how it’s pronounced

Ralph Fiennes has over 40 years of acting experience and has a reputation for playing some iconic roles both on stage and on screen.

Ralph is renowned as a successful actor, best known for playing Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies and in the recent 2024 film Conclave, and has received millions of compliments for his acting prowess. Or do they?

The actor has previously expressed his irritation with how his name was pronounced earlier in his career.

There is a story, he once told the Hollywood Reporter, and he occasionally regrets fixing it. There is a tradition in the UK, in England of pronouncing ‘Ralph’ as ‘Rafe’. One of those odd English words has a completely different spelling altogether.

“But I believe my father named me after his step-grandfather his name was Ralph Eastwood, nicknamed Rusty, but spelt R-A-L-P-H. And I suppose I should have honoured my parents by spelling this name correctly, but I sometimes feel guilty because it would be simpler. “

He continued, saying that he thought it was “too late” to correct people and that he had a weird way of sticking to what was given. ”

After a Reddit user started a discussion about how to pronounce Ralph Fiennes’ name incorrectly, people were shocked to learn that they had been doing it.

One person said on the site: “It’s pronounced Rafe, and yes, it is some British thing! Some English ractors do it because they were affected by the change in vowel sounds during Shakespeare’s time. The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is another famous Ralph-pronounced-Rafe from the UK. “

A second person asked: “While we’re at it, the surname: do you or do you not pronounce the s? ” to which another person replied: “I’ve always heard it without the S. So basically ‘Rafe Fine'”

In the UK, I used to believe that Ralph was always pronounced Rafe. But then I saw Pearl Harbor and then Rafe Spall happened, so I realised it’s a different name,” a third person wrote.

While another added: “If you find hi first name tough, wait till you see his FULL name: Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. “